


Times Such As These

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Book 3: Fire, Canon Compliant, Ficlet, Gen, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 14:57:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11580402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: “We do not inductchildreninto the Order, Piandao!” exclaims Jeong Jeong.“He’s not a child,” insists Piandao calmly, without standing up. “He might have been, were this a different time, had he not grown up in the midst of a war. But he did."On the eve of Sozin's comet, Piandao, Jeong Jeong, and Iroh discuss the White Lotus's most recent recruit.





	Times Such As These

The three of them don’t quite smile when they first see each other—they’ve not convened here outside Ba Sing Se for happy reasons, after all—but they do embrace. It’s been a long time, so long, and they were such good friends, even before the White Lotus, and then two of them deserted, and all three joined the Order…

It’s good, Jeong Jeong thinks, to see Piandao and Iroh again.

Just like old times, Iroh brews tea, and, just like old times, Jeong Jeong spikes his cup with something stronger when the three of them sit down to drink it. Piandao raises an eyebrow, and Iroh shakes his head in mock disapproval, but, in the end, all three of them come as close to laughing as they each have in some time.

They sit and drink, the conversation ebbing and flowing this way and that, and eventually Jeong Jeong and Iroh produce their Lotus Tiles. Jeong Jeong’s is weathered, chipped on the sides such that it’s no longer a circle. It’s the same one with which he was inducted, so many years ago now. Iroh’s, on the other hand, is new. He had to replace his most recent one earlier in the year, he explains to the others with something like longing in his voice, after his nephew chucked it into a river. 

“And yours?” Iroh asks, turning to Piandao.

“I don’t have one, at the moment,” Piandao admits. “I gave my most recent one away a few weeks ago, and didn’t have time to replace it before I received your call.”

“You’ve begun to induct someone?”

Piandao nods. "He doesn't know it yet, but yes." 

“Who?” 

“A young man who trained with me. One of the best candidates for the Order I’ve seen in a long time. Clever. Resourceful. Creative. Hardworking. And someone who can see past Nation. He was from the Southern Water Tribe and had clearly suffered because of the War. And yet he still wanted—begged—to learn from me, a Fire Nation master, because the art of the sword was more important to him.”

“This young man,” asks Iroh, without taking his eyes off of his tea. “Was he traveling with the Avatar?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. How did you—”

“He is not a young man!” exclaims Jeong Jeong, exploding off the ground. “I, too, have met this boy and he is a _child_! We do not induct _children_ into the Order, Piandao!”

“He’s not a child,” insists Piandao calmly, without standing up. “He might have been, were this a different time, had he not grown up in the midst of a war. But he did. And now he’s a warrior. But he need not be _only_ a warrior. He is _good_. And if he is going to fight—which inevitably he will have to do—he has to know that there is more in him than war. That there is art, truth, philosophy, beauty in the world. He is skilled, and the Order may need him. But he also needs the Order.”

“Nonetheless!” Jeong Jeong throws his hands into the air. “We do not, we _cannot_ encourage _children_ to…Tell him, Iroh!”

“Piandao is right,” says Iroh softly. He doesn't look at either of them.

Jeong Jeong huffs, but they don’t speak any more of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


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